Industry-Leading Gaming and eSports Company Joins Forces with FACEIT
to Become Exclusive Real Money Wagering Partner for Its Counter-Strike:
Global Offensive (CS:GO) Tournaments

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Unikrn
(#unikrn), a gaming (#gaming) and eSports (#esports) company, today
announced it has introduced the world’s first competitive integrity
certification program for eSports. The program, which is being
immediately adopted through a partnership with FACEIT
(#faceit), the leading platform for online competitions in PvP (#pvp)
multiplayer games (#multiplayergames), will promote industry-wide best
practices that ensure the legitimacy of match results in events
organized by Unikrn partners (such as FACEIT). Participating leagues and
tournaments will be ranked along different tiers of competitive
integrity based on the extent to which they satisfy different
requirements of the program.

The program, which will be the world’s first competitive integrity
certification program for eSports, takes a 360-degree approach,
addressing all aspects of competition organization that may have
implications for competitive integrity. This includes a player code of
conduct, standards for investigating possible violations and specific
rules tailored to both LAN and online-based events. The program will
encourage a constant dialogue between players, teams, organizers and
significant third parties, developing best practices that competitions
can adopt to safeguard the competitive integrity of eSports.

“As eSports reaches a tipping point of mainstream acceptance, the
legitimacy of match results is more paramount than ever,” said Rahul
Sood, CEO Unikrn. “Advertisers, investors and fans depend on it, and
that is why we’re launching a collaborative system to ensure competitive
integrity and anti-cheating across all major competitions. The key here
is getting all key stakeholders to the table, engaging in proactive
discussions to set industry standards.”

Participating leagues and tournaments will be ranked along different
tiers of competitive integrity based on the extent to which they satisfy
different requirements of the program. FACEIT will play a key role in
the development and rollout of the initiative, acting as the first
certified, partnered organizer and offering crucial on-the-ground
feedback regarding its functionality. At its core, this initiative will
be a collaborative effort between Unikrn, FACEIT, and many more
partners. Unikrn is currently in discussion with leading players, teams,
organizers, and publishers throughout the eSports industry, forging
crucial partnerships and seeking feedback on early drafts of the
certification criteria and process.

The Unikrn Competitive Integrity Program is designed to establish an
ongoing dialogue between all major competition organizers regarding best
practices for competitive integrity in eSports. Organizers that join the
program will be challenged to become leaders on this issue, and will be
given the support to effect industry-wide change.

“No single party can safeguard competitive integrity on its own,” said
Bryce Blum, Unikrn’s Director of eSports and author of the certification
program. “A comprehensive approach to address this issue will require
the eSports industry to be as innovative as the games themselves. We
need to establish industry-wide standards, share information, and
harness our collective resources to achieve the results we can’t obtain
individually.”

“Fairness and sportsmanship are defining pillars of competitive sports;
you can’t have one without the other. This partnership with Unikrn
ensures that both players and fans can be confident in the results of
Unikrn events,” says Michele Attisani, co-founder and COO of FACEIT.
“We’re happy to work with Unikrn to begin the important work of making
eSports as fair as possible. This means players and spectators can focus
on seeing gameplay at the highest level of skill. This is a win for
everyone.”

About UnikrnUnikrn is a world-leading gaming, eSports and
Entertainment Company co-founded by Rahul Sood, who, up until recently,
was the General Manager of Microsoft Ventures. Sood resigned from
Microsoft to create Unikrn. A serial entrepreneur, Sood spent 18 years
in multiple startups; he founded gaming computer creator VoodooPC, which
was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2006. Unikrn has built partnerships
with Hewlett-Packard, Logitech, Razer, Tabcorp, and is continuing to
forge strategic relationships in the gaming, eSports and entertainment
space. Since November of 2014 Unikrn has raised $10,000,000 from an
international group of investors. For more information, please visit unikrn.com,
follow us @unikrnco
and find us on Facebook.

About FACEITFounded in London in 2012, FACEIT is the
leading competitive platform for online multiplayer games, with more
than 2.5 million users logging in a total of over 6 million online game
sessions each month. FACEIT allows players to easily play in tournaments
and leagues for virtual and real-world prizes through automated
tournament management and matchmaking technology. For developers,
FACEIT’s advanced software development kit (SDK) allows game creators to
easily integrate user-friendly matchmaking and tournaments into their
titles to allow gamers to take part in competitive online games at all
skill levels. eSports organizers, players and communities use FACEIT to
create and manage online competitions. For more information on FACEIT,
please visit www.faceit.com.